Reflecting on SSM: The Link Between Root Definitions and Conceptual Models

In a previous paper the authors argued that the line dividing the ‘real world’ from the ‘systems thinking world’ in Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) should be disregarded lest it be taken to indicate a false dualism. One of the supporting reasons for the elimination of this line was the problem that arose in practice concerning the link between root definitions and conceptual models, constantly encountered during the 25 years in which SSM has been used and developed. The relationship between root definitions and conceptual models was taken to be based only on an instrumental ‘logic’. Here it is argued that root definitions define and induce dispositions. The dispositions root definitions define are expressed in terms of conceptual models, while the dispositions they induce are the source of the effects they have on the problem-solving practice. In this way, the sole dependency on instrumental logic as the link between the two is loosened, allowing different forms of relationship between the two to emerge, including ones linked more closely to the evolving content of a systems study. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.